Article
Environmental Sciences
Louise Terryn, Kim Calders, Harm Bartholomeus, Renee E. Bartolo, Benjamin Brede, Barbara D'hont, Mathias Disney, Martin Herold, Alvaro Lau, Alexander Shenkin, Timothy G. Whiteside, Phil Wilkes, Hans Verbeeck
Summary: Accurately quantifying tree and forest structure is crucial for understanding and monitoring the functioning of terrestrial ecosystems in a changing climate. Terrestrial Laser Scanning (TLS) and Unoccupied Aerial Vehicle Laser Scanning (UAV-LS) have advanced the accurate measurement of forest structure. Combining TLS and UAV-LS data can further enhance the 3D structural mapping of dense tropical forests. TLS provides accurate measurements on a smaller scale, while UAV-LS provides comparable measurements on a larger scale. The fusion of TLS and UAV-LS can improve the measurement of structural metrics in these forests.
REMOTE SENSING OF ENVIRONMENT
(2022)
Article
Soil Science
Dianna K. Bagnall, Cristine L. S. Morgan
Summary: Adoption of no-till practices is low in the Lower and Middle Brazos River Watershed of Texas, leading to soil erosion, flooding, and high levels of nutrients and sediment in surface waters. The study found that no-till fields had higher organic carbon content, improved soil hydraulic conductivity, and better soil structure compared to conventional tillage fields, indicating positive impacts on soil health and physical properties.
SOIL & TILLAGE RESEARCH
(2021)
Article
Agronomy
Daniel Schraik, Di Wang, Aarne Hovi, Miina Rautiainen
Summary: In this study, a method was developed to measure the clumping index (CI) of forest stands using terrestrial lidar data. Measurements of CI and STARf were conducted on 38 forest stands in Finland, Estonia, and Czechia to study their natural range and relationships with other forest variables and Landsat 8 OLI surface reflectance. It was found that CI was closely correlated with surface reflectance in conifer forests.
AGRICULTURAL AND FOREST METEOROLOGY
(2023)
Article
Engineering, Geological
A. Franza, N. Losacco, A. Ledesma, G. M. B. Viggiani, R. Jimenez
Summary: This paper presents a three-dimensional linear elastic prediction method to evaluate the protective action of pile walls against ground movements due to new tunnels, and new factors are proposed to quantify the efficiency of the wall in reducing settlements and deflections. The results show that the effectiveness of the pile wall in reducing horizontal displacements is limited. Predictions are compared against field and numerical data to demonstrate the applicability of the elastic solution for small ground losses. Lastly, the barrier efficiency in reducing settlements is discussed comparing pile walls and diaphragm walls.
CANADIAN GEOTECHNICAL JOURNAL
(2021)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Dominik Seidel, Peter Annighoefer, Christian Ammer, Martin Ehbrecht, Katharina Willim, Jan Bannister, Daniel P. Soto
Summary: The basal area and canopy openness of the overstory layer are significantly related to the structural complexity of the understory layer. Climatic parameters, such as seasonal precipitation, directly drive understory complexity, while annual precipitation and temperature indirectly affect it through canopy openness and basal area.
Article
Engineering, Civil
Abdolghafour Khademalrasoul, Arash Shirmohammadi, Mohammad Siroos Pakbaz, Mojtaba Labibzadeh
Summary: This paper presents the applicability of Reduced Length Buckling-Restrained Braces (RLBRBs) in combination with strut elements in deep excavations. A numerical investigation is carried out to clarify the behavior of RLBRB-equipped strut members in supported deep diaphragm walls in soft clayey soils. The study considers the damping mechanism and the axial load bearing capacity of the RLBRBs in seismic conditions, and investigates the parameters influencing deep excavation stability. The findings provide fundamental principles for designing deep excavations under seismic conditions with efficient strut members.
JOURNAL OF EARTHQUAKE ENGINEERING
(2022)
Article
Engineering, Geological
Yunfeng Ge, Qian Chen, Huiming Tang, Bei Cao, Wakeel Hussain
Summary: This paper proposes a method for rapid and quantitative estimation of geological strength index (GSI) using 3D point clouds generated through non-contact measurement methods. The method includes acquiring point clouds using a terrestrial laser scanner, identifying discontinuities through artificial neural networks (ANN) and density-based spatial clustering of applications with noise (DBSCAN), extracting geometric information for the detected discontinuities, and estimating GSI according to the detection and characterization of discontinuities. The application results show that 3D point clouds can provide an objective and efficient way to obtain GSI values of rock mass and can be used as a potential alternative to the traditional GSI estimation method.
ROCK MECHANICS AND ROCK ENGINEERING
(2023)
Article
Optics
Chuan-Wei Yao, Yao Wang, Heng-Yu Wang, Peng Zhou, Qing-Guang Chen, Bin Lin
Summary: In this paper, a low-cost and easy-to-implement panoramic 3D profile reconstruction system is proposed. The system uses two plane mirrors and a conventional 3D triangulation laser scanner (TLS) to capture laser line patterns from multiple perspectives, enabling comprehensive 3D reconstructions of complex samples. Real experiments were conducted to verify the accuracy of the proposed method, with the reconstruction deviation of the standard sphere being only 0.4293% and RMSE being 94.595um. The results demonstrate that the proposed method provides a cost-effective strategy for accurate 3D reconstruction of complex surfaces.
OPTICS AND LASERS IN ENGINEERING
(2023)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Kenneth Olofsson, Johan Holmgren
Summary: A new algorithm for detecting branch attachments on stems based on a voxel approach and line object detection by a voting procedure is introduced. This algorithm can be used to evaluate the quality of stems by giving the branch density of each standing tree. The detected branches were evaluated using field-sampled trees. The algorithm detected 63% of the total amount of branch whorls and 90% of the branch whorls attached in the height interval from 0 to 10 m above ground. The suggested method could be used to create maps of forest stand stem quality data.
Article
Environmental Sciences
Valeria Di Biase, Ramon F. Hanssen, Sander E. Vos
Summary: The study assessed the performance of a permanent terrestrial laser scanner in regularly scanning a coastal beach area from a high position and proposed a new calibration curve for estimating soil moisture. By matching ground-truth measurements with reflectance measurements and using interpolation, the evaluation of soil moisture at a high spatiotemporal resolution was achieved.
Article
Physics, Applied
Amin Reihani, Shen Yan, Yuxuan Luan, Rohith Mittapally, Edgar Meyhofer, Pramod Reddy
Summary: This study presents a custom-fabricated scanning thermal probe (STP) that can accurately measure the temperature of microdevices at elevated temperatures. By introducing a modulated heat input and analyzing the different components of the STP temperature, the tip-to-sample thermal resistance and microdevice surface temperature can be simultaneously deduced.
APPLIED PHYSICS LETTERS
(2021)
Article
Engineering, Geological
Deqiong Kong
Summary: This paper presents a comprehensive investigation into the lateral loading behavior of a pipe on undrained clay using numerical analysis. The study validates the analysis against published centrifuge tests and presents a detailed parametric study. The developed analytical equations accurately predict the lateral residual resistances and show good agreement with model test results.
JOURNAL OF GEOTECHNICAL AND GEOENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING
(2022)
Article
Engineering, Geological
Andrea Franza, Alec M. Marshall, Rafael Jimenez
Summary: This paper presents a two-stage continuum-based non-linear soil-pile interaction model to predict the axial and flexural response of piles affected by ground movements. The study demonstrates the influence of initial safety factor, installation method, and capacity distribution on pile settlements and critical tensile axial forces. Results provide dimensionless design charts for estimating pile settlements and critical axial forces under varying ground settlement conditions.
Article
Agronomy
D. M. McKay Fletcher, R. Shaw, A. R. Sanchez-Rodriguez, K. R. Daly, A. van Veelen, D. L. Jones, T. Roose
Summary: This study utilized a combination of experimental and modeling approaches to investigate the mechanism of organic acid exudation by plant roots and its impact on phosphate solubilization and availability. The results showed that while citrate exudation by roots had some influence on phosphate uptake, it was not significant enough to significantly enhance P absorption.
Article
Agronomy
Bianca B. Barreto, Fernando P. Rivera, Blair M. McKenzie, Katharine Preedy, Yangminghao Liu, Lionel X. Dupuy, Elisangela Ribeiro, Roberto A. Braga Jr
Summary: This study developed an instrument to analyze the roughness of soil cores and tested its ability to detect changes in soil structure caused by crop type and tillage. The results showed that the method was precise and could reliably detect the influence of crop type and tillage on soil roughness.